Embrace
by Spooky4ever
Summary: Unlike most boys, Kyo does not aim to steal kisses from his girlfriend. Instead, he craves her hugs, as if they're some drug he is addicted to. It may be weird, but Kyo prefered Tohru's hugs over her kisses anytime. one-shot. kyoru.


_Disclaimer: _Me no own, you no sue.

_Rating: PG._ minor implied child abuse, unabashed fluff.

_Pairings/Characters: _Kyoru

_Word Count:_1,474

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**_Embrace_**

_embrace: a close affectionate and protective acceptance; a hug, usually with fondness._

He really didn't consider himself the average boyfriend.

His previous cursed status not counting.

Kyo loves Tohru's hugs. He craves them like he would a drug, the addiction he can't give up. It's not his fault really, and he can't help that people take hugs for granted. After all, he had been deprived of such loving, human contact for most of his life. With Tohru it was like he was making up for a lifetime of no hugs.

Kyo had heard once that when you get your first girlfriend all you want to do was kiss her. A peck here, make-out session behind a tree, any free moment used to lip-lock with your beloved. It was the most favorable aspect of a blossoming relationship was what the older students use to say. And when eventually those chaste kisses evolved into intense make-outs and then into scorching groping you really hit the jackpot. At this point Kyo would ignore the boys because most of them were perverts and he would NEVER treat Tohru like that. Because with Tohru, it wasn't like that at all, it didn't have to be. Sure, they kissed and held hands and whatnot, but none of it could compare to her hugs. No amount of butt grabbing could ever hold a candle to her hugs.

It was so much more different.

More _special_.

There was just something he loved about coming up behind her and wrapping his arms around her tiny waist and pulling her close to his chest; his face smothered in her silky brown vanilla scented locks. Or when she bounded towards him with the brightest smile in the room and threw her arms around his shoulders, locking them around his neck so tightly he thought they'd never let go; her face resting in the crook of his neck and sending shivers down his spine as her warm breath ghosted across his skin. He cherished that feeling of warmth, and love, and _want. _Her hugs were his personal security blanket, a Tohru-made cocoon of tenderness just for him.

They were so different compared to the sparse one's he received growing up.

Being a member of the Zodiac cursed he could never hug anyone who wasn't a guy or cursed Sohma themselves. When he was younger he once asked what a hug felt like because he never experinced one himself. He was told that you would never feel safer then anywhere in the world then in a hug. It was described as the ultimate form of comfort, like being wrapped in a warm blanket and having the silkiest of chocolates melting on his tongue.

The description always confused him, even up to his high school years. He never felt that way when being hugged.

His parents never hugged him. Even if his mother could have looked past his transformation into a cat it wouldn't have matter. She could only see the monster. A demon. The cursed one. He never knew what a mother's tender touch was, never felt it for himself. There was no reassurance when he was scared or hurt, his mother couldn't bear to touch him so lovingly. He only dreamed of it sometimes, fantasies' of touches that made him think of warm milk, laughter, and feathers. His father on the other hand never bestowed on him a loving touch. His father only touched him a few times. Each time did not convey a father's love, instead it was his fathers scorn he felt: hot, searing, and pure hatred.

Kyo hated it when his father touched him.

Aside from his so called parents, only two other people in the world would hug him.

He had long convinced himself Kagura was a hug whore.

Kagura never hesitated to hug him the first chance she saw him. She was always willing to offer her affections, often brazenly displaying them for the whole world to see whether he wanted it or not. She was one of the only member's of the family that dared go in reaching distance of him.

Too bad he hated it.

Kagura was too affectionate. Her hugs were forced, unwanted. He felt so claustrophobic when she bestowed him a bear hug. He felt so trapped. Her arms wrapped tight around his chest, his face smothered in her chest. Then she would coo and sway (not gently either) them back and forth, hands running through his hair and messing it up. She'd cling to him like a leech, insisting that lovers cuddled like this all the time.

And he'd fight and yell at her which only ignited her violent temper. That never ended well.

He hated Kagura's hugs because they smothered him. She forced her love on him, forced her affections and tears, and devotion when he didn't want it. She never learned either. She just kept coming back for more, and each time he tried to push her further and further away. He found no comfort in her arms, only this horrible breath-stealing irritation that made him angry but nauseous too.

And hugs weren't supposed to make you feel sick and irritated.

Then there was Shishou. Shishou had hugged him when he was younger. But as Kyo grew up they slowly disappeared. He hadn't been sure if it was because the man was disgusted by him or thought Kyo didn't want or need them. Eventually he realized that the reason was something completely different.

Kazuma may have raised him, may act like his father, but Kazuma was just as unsure (and perhaps even slightly awkward) as Kyo was one it came to the more expressive aspect of their unique relationship. When Kyo was younger he always accepted a hug from Shishou. But now that comfort was replaced with this gauche unease.

Hugging Shishou was just strange now. Kyo really didn't know how to describe it. It was loving, but detached, they were touching, but they were a mile apart. It was like Shishou didn't know how to hug him anymore, and Kyo didn't either.

And that was his life. A continuing cycle of forced love, awkward love, or just plain hatred. There were friendships, but none of them could provide the attention he inwardly craved. Kagura was too much, Shishou too unsure, and everyone else not enough. There was no happy medium for the cat, and Kyo feared that he would go to the cat house never knowing what true loving human contact was. He believed his dreams would only be just that, dreams.

But then Tohru came along, and everything changed in a puff of orange colored smoke.

Now hugs weren't a total foreign concept to him. But when he was freed and able to hug any girl without worry of transforming, he found himself lost. It was just so, odd…he didn't know what to do. When he hugged Tohru the first time after officially being freed it was a shock to his system.

There was no poof! No smoke or falling to the ground, or sudden disappearance of the human body close to him. There was just him and Tohru. Chest to chest, arms wrapped around each other, her head in the crook of his neck, and their hearts beating close, almost in total sync with each other. There was no annoyance or discomfort or clumsiness or disdain. Just gentle hands and sweet smelling hair and tickling breaths across sensitive skin and _need_.

Never again did her lips taste as sweet.

Instead he became a hug whore himself and took every opportunity to hug her. He became undeniably jealous when Momiji or Yuki hugged his girl; he hated it when another guy touched her. Tohru became his and his alone.

But no one could really blame him, and Tohru accepted every one like it would be their last. Sometimes her face would flush or her eyes would dreamily shut, while a content smile would grace her face. And they'd stand there for the longest time, swaying with the wind, bonding in the purest way possible. How could anyone hate that? How could anyone choose such warm contact over wet lip clashing? Kissing was passion and lust and desire, yes, but where was the kindness? The gentleness? The soothing touch?

"Geez Kyon-kyon don't you ever kiss your girlfriend? All I ever see is you guys hugging!" his classmates would rib him. He'd just look across the room and see her cheerful face and image holding her in his arms, an embrace of tenderness and warmth, and ease. He'd be remind of his dreams and instantly his mind would think of the first description he ever heard of hugs and he'd connect it to her. His anger and aggravation would melt away and he'd scoff in disbelief and reply,

"Of course I do moron. I just like her hugs even more."

It was as simple as that.

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AN: I always wondered how the Sohma's would react after a lifetime of such limited human contact like that. naturally i picked my favourite character and of course just had to make it Kyoru. I haven't written much Kyoru lately. I'm just glad its finally posted! The written version of this has been in my notebook since December and the half-typed part since March. I thought I'd never get it finished! Alas though, it is. As always please review!


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